FRANKLIN
DaVita Kidney Care, a division of DaVita Health-Care Partners Inc., only has two patients as of right now after their opening on Aug. 17, but the company is confident that they have a market here in Franklin. They looked at a number of areas in which its services were of most use, and it was decided that one of their centers was needed in this area. Within the next six months, the state survey will be completed and DaVita will have their Medicare certification and will be able to accept Medicare patients.

“DaVita means he or she gives life and that’s what we do,” Treavce Whitmore, the regional operations director said. “We as a company believe in meeting the patient’s needs. We adhere to flexible schedules for our patients so they can live the most normal lifestyle possible.”

DaVita treats patients with chronic kidney care failure and end stage renal disease. Their goal is to improve patients’ quality of life by providing innovating clinical care, and by offering integrated treatment plans, personalized care teams and convenient health-management services.

The centers offer in-center dialysis and home dialysis. The staff trains the patients so they are able to do home dialysis, if that is an option for the patient’s particular case.

They originated in 1999, and are now an international company. As of June 30, they operate or provide administrative services at 2,210 outpatient dialysis centers located in the United States and operate 96 outpatient dialysis centers in 10 countries outside of the United States.

DaVita dialysis centers do what they can to make sure the patients are as comfortable as possible. Each one of the dialysis stations has a television so the patients can watch informative programs to keep them up to date with their treatment and entertaining programs to keep them satisfied. They also plan days to make it a little bit more fun for the patients – for example, they’ll have a day when the staff and the patients all do crazy things to their hair.

The centers concentrate on prevention and educating the community as well.

“We are committing to informing and educating all patients and community members,” Whitmore said. “I want people in the community to know what they can do to prevent kidney disease.”

DaVita offers Kidney Smart classes for the community at no cost. They are always offered once a month, but they can also be requested and a class can be set up within 24 hours. The staff wants to not only help their patients; they also want to help their patients’ family members and the rest of the community so they can understand kidney disease and all that comes with it.

“In all, our goal is to give the best care possible,” Whitmore added.